Catholic Burial

Other Burial Information

Our Cemeteries are places of prayer and mediation, monuments to our Faith and witness to life everlasting. Catholic burial is a unique ritual, characterized by rites that express profound spiritual truths. A Catholic funeral acknowledges the dignity of human beings, created in the image and likeness of God, and the inestimable value of each individual soul. Christian burial is an honor, a privilege and an opportunity for Catholics to be part of a meaningful and dignified observance of the passage of a human life.

WHY CHOOSE A CATHOLIC CEMETERY? Burying the dead has been considered a sacred duty since Old Testament times. Our Christian belief in the resurrection of the body raises this obligation to a new level. “…now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,.” 1Corinthians 15 In keeping with those words of St. Paul, the Church sets aside cemeteries as sacred ground, the resting-place of the faithful until they rise to new life on the last day. The Church does not see Catholic cemeteries as a business operation but as an essential part of its ministry. Catholics believe our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. In his earthly life, Christ honored the human body, curing the sick, raising the dead, feeding the multitudes. He left us with sacraments to continue his work through the ages, In the sacramental life of the Church, our bodies are baptized with water, anointed with oil in confirmation and ordination, nourished with the Body and Blood of the Lord and finally anointed with the oil of the Sacrament of the Sick. In the incarnation, God became flesh. The son of God assumed a mortal body, felt our joys and our sorrows and finally shared in our certain sad sentence of death. At his death, his body was treated with sacred respect by Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus who reverently laid him in the tomb. On the third day, Christ rose from that tomb, sealing our faith in the resurrection of the dead.

This faith inspires the work of Catholic cemeteries. They are more than burial grounds. They are places of worship, where Masses are offered for the living as well as the dead. Works of art fill Catholic cemeteries with visible reminders of our faith. They are places where the living come not only to mourn their dead but to find hope and peace. Catholic cemeteries fulfill not only our obligation to bury the dead but to console the sorrowing and to pray for all God’s children, living and dead.

CATHOLICS AND CREMATION As it has throughout history, the Church “earnestly recommends the pious custom of burying the bodies of the dead be observed ….” (Canon 1176 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law) While the Church favors traditional burial, it now allows cremation. In the past the Church prohibited cremation because the practice had been associated with a denial of the Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead and the immortality of the soul. The Church removed this prohibition in 1963 and now forbids cremation only if it is done “for reasons that are contrary to Christian teaching.”

Even when cremation is chosen, the funeral liturgy requires the presence of the body — not only to reaffirm the Catholic reverence for the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit but to contribute to the grieving process of family and friends. Even in death, the body is a reminder of the Incarnation and a foreshadowing of our resurrection from the dead: “…in baptism the body was marked with the seal of the Trinity and became the temple of the Holy Spirit,” (OCF 19.) When, through lack of understanding, a body is cremated before the funeral liturgy, the Church ordinarily would celebrate a memorial Mass without the presence of the cremated remains. However, a dispensation to allow the presence of the cremated remains at a funeral liturgy may be granted by the Diocesan Bishop on a case-by-case basis, provided that the request does not reflect a denial of the church’s teaching. Whether the body is cremated before or after the funeral Mass, the cremated remains of the body must be treated with the respect belonging to a child of God. The cremated remains should be placed in a “worthy vessel” designed for this purpose and interred in a grave or mausoleum. At the cemetery, the cremated remains are laid to rest with a final liturgical prayer, “The Rite of Committal.”

*In keeping with the Church’s teaching of the sacredness of human life, the cremated human remains should not be scattered, kept at home or divided among family members.

To encourage the respectful disposition of cremated remains, Catholic Cemeteries offer a number of options: -An adult grave may be purchased for burial of up to four cremated remains. -Smaller sized plots with pre-set vaults are available for the burial of cremated remains. -Urns may be placed in above ground columbarium niches designed specifically for cremated remains.